The following is an open letter by a group of South African scholars who have declared ‪‎the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) caliphate as ‘bogus’.

Cowardly evil man using religion as an excuse for violence again! ISIS and their beliefs have no place in a civilized world.

A torturous spate of terrorism that continues by the ISIS has brought Muslim Ummah in general into disrepute. There is no gainsaying the fact that the Muslims on the whole oppose and condemn terrorism in unequivocal terms and are not ready to accept it even as remotely related to Islam in any manner.

A group called ISIS, presently, killing thousands of Muslims in Iraq in the name of Jihad. Some media try to label them as Sunni Muslims and propagating as a conflict between Sunni vs. Shia. But in fact, they are not Sunni Muslims. They are Khwarijites who are the Wahabis – so called Salafis, considered as one of the misguided groups by majority traditional Sunni Muslims.

As the terrorist group, ISIS continues to capture and control more territory in Iraq and Syria, it is important to realize what is at stake in the region and for the world.

The challenge that ISIS poses is not just to Iraq’s stability but also to the world security. ISIS is a terrorist group with their own army and bank account that has a clear and growing ability to conduct terrorist attacks against any Iraqi government around the globe.

Isis has shown its ruthlessness and brutality in the areas of Syria and Baghdad by blowing up Islamic heritage sites, masjids and even killing and slaughtering ulema.

Today some Muslim brothers, without having proper knowledge about them, supporting these terrorists and sharing their messages on Facebook.

Dear Muslim brothers and sisters! Beware from these Khawarijites and do not give any support to them. Also pass this message with everyone and inform your friends about them.

There is a need to distance the title ‘sunni’, ‘Muslim’, ‘Islam’ from ISIS as the acts of the ISIS is terrorism and has no place in Islam.

The question is whether we take action against ISIS now or deal with the consequences later here on South African soil.

Islam is a religion of peace and safety that champions love and harmony in society. According to Islamic teachings, only such a person will be called a Muslim at whose hands the lives and properties of all the innocent Muslims and non-Muslims remain safe and unhurt. The sanctity of human life and its protection occupies fundamental place in the Islamic law.

Taking anyone’s life for nothing and killing him is an act forbidden and unlawful. Rather, in some cases, it amounts to infidelity. These days, the ISIS terrorists, in a vain attempt to impose their own ideas and beliefs and eliminate their opponents from the surface of the earth, killing innocent people ruthlessly and indiscriminately everywhere in Mosques, governmental offices and other public places are in fact committing manifest infidelity.

The ISIS, even today, invoke Islam and raise slogan to establish their bogus divine order/Khilafah , but all of their actions and steps constitute a clear violation of Islamic teachings. When their supporters do not have any legal argument to defend the actions of ISIS, they draw the attention of people to the vices of the ruling elites and oppression of the imperialist forces as a justification for their killing.

Please South Africans don’t stay quiet and complain afterwards, be proactive. When you see something massively wrong, speak out if you can.

ISIS is a threat to all humanity. They are not from Islam. Islam is against killing innocent Humans, Terrorism and creating chaos. The ISIS must be boycotted and eradicated.

Sometimes in order to unite a common agenda, a common enemy is required. ISIS is an enemy against humanity and humanity needs to unite against them.

The editor of Sawt-ul-Islam, Sayed Ridhwaan Mohamed Ziyaee, together with other South African ulema Bodies and religious organisations has dismissed the Khilafah declaration because it is not in the interest of Muslims around the globe and its unity now, and will be taken as a pretext to divide the Muslim world and harming people.